To carry out activities in the election campaign, the electoral contenders can receive donations only on the bank account called “Electoral fund” that is opened for the current elections. Private individuals can donate up to 50 monthly official average salaries set for the given year, while legal entities – up to 100 average official salaries and only by bank transfer. The legal entity will inform its shareholders or members about the transfer, while the private individual who will make donations in cash is obliged to fill out a form on donation.
The Moldovans citizens who didn’t turn 18 and those who are under tutelage cannot make donations. Sums of money earned outside the country cannot be donated. Anonymous donations or those made in the name of third persons are banned, as are donations on the part of the public authorities, organizations, enterprises, public institutions, other legal entities that are financed with money from the public budget or that have state capital. The legal entities cannot donate money to the electoral funds of competitors if they performed activities that were financed or paid with public finds a year before the electoral period. Donations are also banned in the case of legal entities with foreign or mixed capital, including noncommercial organizations, trade unions, charitable or religious organizations.
The electoral contenders can also apply for interest-free loans from the Ministry of Finance. The loans from the state budget will be released only through a financial proxy assigned for the purpose by the electoral contender. The proxy can be both a private individual and a legal entity registered with the Ministry of Finance. The loans received from the state are partially or fully repaid by the state, depending on the total number of valid votes won by the electoral competitor in an electoral district.
The election runners that withdrew from the race are obliged to repay the loan allocated from the state budget within two months. The electoral contenders that won less than 3% of the valid votes cast in the whole country or in particular constituencies, including the independent candidates who weren’t elected, must repay the loans raised from the state during the same period of time. The other electoral contenders will have to repay the loan within four months.
The money accumulated in the “Electoral fund” will be used exclusively to cover the campaign-related costs. It is banned using this money for personal purposes. The electoral competitors are banned from giving money or goods without payment to the voters, including those obtained from humanitarian assistance or other charity activities.
The cap on the amounts that can be transferred to each electoral contender in the national constituency is 86 871 855 lei, while to each electoral contender in the single-member constituency is 1 845 000 lei. The general ceiling on financial resources that can be transferred to the bank account “Electoral fund” of the participants in the national consultative referendum of February 24, 2019 was set at 43 450 053 lei.
The electoral competitors that will not use financial resources for campaign activities or electoral promotion are allowed not to open a bank account called “Electoral fund”, but they must inform the Central Election Commission about this.
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The IPN division “Elections in plain words” is designed to explain notions, terms and practices related to the parliamentary elections based on the mixed electoral system and the consultative referendum that will take place on February 24, 2019.
